Survival
by Fullmetal Dr
Summary: Sword Art Online a world that was made to be a paradise was a living death trap. From the moment I realized that, I vowed to protect my childhood friend Asuna and to be able to beat the game. I don't know whats real anymore. My real life and my virtual life have become one the only thing I know that is that if i die here my life is over
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Are you ready Asuna" I say putting on my nerve gear. I'm taking a deep breath as I'm laying down ready to start the game.

"Yep" Asuna says excitedly.

I smile a bit as I reply "Ok then see you on the other side."

Taking one last breath I say "Link start."

…

I'm running through the town shaking with excitement as I hear my feet hit the stone pavement. I try to spot Asuna as I run through the town. Groups of people chat around me. After a while I spot Asuna standing in the road looking around. "Asuna" I call out as I run toward her.

Her blonde hair shines the light of the virtual sun in the air and she smiles as she sees me.

The two of us have been friends since we were kids and we both became in love with games and have been anxiously awaiting Sword art online. Now that we were here we were desperate to start exploring the game.

Grabbing my hand she smiles saying "are you ready to go." Nodding I let her lead me out of the town. I blush as I notice how soft her hand is and am disappointed when she lets go after we get out of the town.

She gasps as we step out of the town and I can understand why. Around us are an open field that seem to extend for miles. Its pure green with the exception of a couple of pig looking beasts standing around. Looking around I observe that there are a few players in the field trying to get some experience points. One of them tries swinging his sword but the beast just hops to the side and smashes his head in his side sending the guy flying.

I laugh a little but am interrupted by Asuna who says "let's start training."

"That's my line" I say grinning pulling out my sword.

Smiling she pulls out her sword. I start walking to one of the beasts who stands several yards from us. "I'll go first," I say while sliding my foot back and with both hands on the grip of my sword I hold my arms straight and let my blade hang to the left of me. Then I bend my elbows so the hilt almost touches my chest and then I move my arms to the right of my side.

Asuna sighs. I turn and see her with her hand on her forehead. "Why do you always take that ridiculous pose?"

Smirking I reply "because it's cool."

"Whatever" she says shrugging her shoulders and smiling cutely.

"Dang it you know I hate when you do that."

"Do what," she says with the best look of innocence she could pull.

I sigh and charge letting my blade fall behind me. Looking back I see that my Sword is glowing a faint blue. This must be what they call a sword skill. I scream "Kiya," as I charge. The beast starts running to me. When it's only a few yards away I jump as hard as I can. I'm able to get a few feet above it and then I slide my left hand off and then spin around one hundred and eighty degrees and with all my strength force the blade down and slash the beast. Instinctively I hold my left arm out and pull the blade to my side.

The beast explodes into hundreds of small pentagons and I turn around and slide my sword into my sheath and look up and Asuna who is smiling and I give her a thumbs up. When I finish walking to her she grins and walks to a beast that is across the field from us.

"My turn," before I can object she starts running and I sigh.

She's always been ridiculously impulsive. Sprinting down the hill the new beast is running to her. Pulling out her blade, her blade starts to glimmer with a light. Swiftly her side steps and digs her blade into the beast's side and just as swiftly she slides her blade into her sheath.

She looks calm walking up to me and I'm about to say something when she smiles.

After a few more kills we end up lying under a tree. The grass feels as soft as it would in the real world. The sky is blue looking over Asuna seems happy.

"What's making you so happy?"

"I just enjoy being in games."

"Ya I guess you're right." Snickering I say "I remember the first time we went into a game."

She looks at me blushing. "Ya well a lot has changed since then."

I sigh "yet something's never change."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"Nothing really." I'm sitting up and check the time. "We should get ready to log out it's about time for diner."

She sighs I guess your right she says holding out her hand where the menu appears. Scrolling her finger down the menu she stops. Her eyes are puzzled as she starts to tilt her head as if she is missing something.

"What's wrong?"

She silent for a second but then clears her throat before she says there's no log out button."

"What," I say annoyed I pull up my own menu and start scrolling down it. When I hit the bottom of the menu I'm puzzled.

"This makes no sense the Beta testers reviews said it was fine."

"Maybe there was a last minute glitch Asuna says trying to sound hopeful."

"No that doesn't seem right." I'm sitting in confusion when all of a sudden a sound starts ringing. Looking around I notice that it's coming from the town.

Before I can say anything we are teleported to the town. It seems as though everyone has gathered in the square. Asuna stands next to me.

"What's going on?"

"It's probably the creator of the game addressing us about the log out menu," I reply.

Looking around I notice everyone talking in confusion. People are breaking out into arguments some people are even trying to leave but something is preventing them from leaving.

After a few moments the dome around us starts turning red. Some words appear but I can't read them.

A moment later a giant figure stands in the sky. He has a hood so we can't see his face.

"Greeting's fellow SAO players my name is Kayaba Akihiko."

"Kayaba Akihiko" I mutter. It's the name of the famous game designer the one who created Sword Art Online. What exactly is he doing addressing us.

"Most of you have noticed that the log in button does not appear in your main menu."

Something about all this feels wrong. Looking next to me Asuna looks at me hopeful and I have to turn around because I don't' want her to see my look of doubt.

"However this is not a defect."

My heart almost stops.

"I repeat this is not a defect, this is a feature of SAO you cannot log out yourselves and no one from the outside can shut down or remove your nerve gear. If this should be attempted then the transmitter inside your nerve gear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and taking your life"

I grit my teeth. It's true that the nerve gear has enough power to destroy your brain.

"Unfortunately some friends and family have ignored our warning and have tried disconnecting the nerve gear and as a result 213 players are now dead."

My mouth drops and I feel rage building inside me. That bastard. 213 players are dead.

"When your Hp hits Zero your transmitter will send a wave through your brain and you will die."

My fist is gripping my blade and I wish he were here so I could cut out his throat.

"There is only one way to beat the game and that is to complete all 100 floors."

That's impossible the Beta testers couldn't even get that high.

"I've added a present to your inventory."

I hate to take my eyes off him but I decide to check it out.

The label reads mirror. Clicking it a mirror appears in my hand and when I look into it I see my real self. Not the face I have chosen but my face from the real world. That can't be.

Looking behind me I see Asuna is just as puzzled. She looks like her normal self blonde hair and orange eyes.

"And now it is complete. Good luck players."

Rage is building inside me more and my hand is balled into a fist. He disappears and when he does the square is in chaos. Argues are breaking out and soon fighting will to. From the corner of my eye I see a kid who looks my age with black hair leaving the square with a guy with red hair.

Turning around I grab Asuna's hand and walk out of the square when I'm sure we aren't being followed I lead us to and empty alley.

She's shaking "was all that just real."

I nod my head. "Listen to me Asuna what that guy is saying is true. The facts line up it looks like if we lose we really will die."

A tear wells in her eye and I wrap my arms around her pulling her head to my shoulder. I can feel my shirt getting wet with her tears and a minute later she backs away wiping a tear from her eye.

"Listen we need to leave." I pull out a book and say "these are hand written notes from the beta testers it gives us easy quests we can do and where the good hunting grounds are. We need to get ourselves stronger."  
>She nods and grabbing her hand again I lead her out of the town. At that moment this was no longer a game. This was a death trap. Determination filled me. There was no way I would let Asuna die. We have to beat this game no matter what.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Survival

Chapter 2

Asuna was struggling to keep up with me. We were running side by side to a town that had good hunting. It felt like we had been running for hours. We had encountered several monsters on the way and looking at my health I realized that I was dangerously low on health and Asuna wasn't in much better shape. The closer we got the stronger they were. It was night now.

A pair of red eyes where glaring at me. Pulling out my blade I ran a little faster holding my blade to the side and kept the tip of my blade from touching the ground. Focusing on the enemy I saw a flash of light from the corner of my eye and slashed at the monster. I could feel my blade slash through him. It shattered into thousands of pentagons. Without stopping I re-sheathed my blade and kept running.

I could see lights in the distance. We were close. Looking back I could see the relief in Asuna's eyes. I was relieved as well but knew that our troubles weren't even close to over.

We finally arrived in the town. The streets were empty except a few merchants who were still out. Walking up to one I asked "do you sell anything to regain our health."

"Of course." He pulled out a couple of vials with red liquid inside and then an icon showed up asking if we wanted to buy it and gave us a price. Using the little money we earned I bought a couple.

We sat on a bench to catch our breath. Opening the items menu I took our two of the vials and handed one to Asuna. She drank it without hesitation. Looking at it I slowly drank it. It was sweet and when I looked at my health it was almost full again.

I sighed in relief.

Looking over at Asuna I saw her taking deep breaths. The image of her crying flashed in my mind. I didn't know what to do. It was rare to see her cry.

After a few minutes I stand up. "We should start hunting."

She nods not saying a thing and we walk toward the entrance to town.

The Moonlight was shining over the field radiating the landscape.

I saw a group of monsters in the distance.

We started walking toward them. When we were a good distance away we hid behind a rock and peeked over to analyze them. They were all boars like what we saw earlier but I suspected that they were a higher level than the ones we fought.

"I'll go first and draw their attention sneak from behind them and attack." I left before she could object. I've always tended to take risks when playing games and this was no exception the only difference is that if I die I die for real.

Holding my sword back I watch my blade flash blue meaning that I've activated a sword skill.

"Hey" I scream sliding into a fighting stance. They turn around and see me. It looks like there's about ten of them. I can barely see Asuna quickly moving behind them. I grin and watch as the first creature attacks. Sidestepping I'm about to slash when I notice the creatures shift in movement. It's rotating its body and instinctively I use my blade to block its head that he tries to ram into me. Its force is incredible. I almost fall but I dig my right foot into the ground and feel as it's pushing me back. Crap I can't do anything. With all my strength I shift my blade enough that I'm able to break away and quickly I slash.

Exploding into pieces, I duck just in time that another one is over my head. Driving my blade up I feel it dig into its stomach and watch as it shatters into pieces.

From the corner of my I see Asuna fighting. She's quickly dodging the enemy and is counterattacking. I wish I could help but three more were ganging up on me. Surrounding me the first one charged at me head on. Jumping to the side I can barely block the other one that is hitting me from the side. The attack knocks me off balance and I fall to the ground. The last one tries to ram into my head but I firmly grip the handle and hold near the end of my blade and feel its impact. It's so strong it's driving me across the field.

I'm gritting my teeth struggling to be able to get up. My arms are weakening. My hearts beating faster and I feel like I'm burning from the inside. Screaming in rage I swing my blade as hard as I can and throw the beast to the side. Quickly I scramble to my feet. I'm breathing heavily but the fights not over.

Behind me the other two from before are charging. Gripping my sword I charge and scream "Kiya." I bring my blade down horizontally and watch it rip through the beast on the left. I can tell the other one is going to come around and attack me so I spin and watch as my blade tears through the other one.

Immediately I throw my blade behind me and feel as the third beast clashes my blade. Stepping forward I step to the side and watch as it continues forward and then I attack. As it disappears I look to see what's happening to Asuna.

She slashes through her opponent and I watch as she re-sheathes her blade. She looks over at me and tries to smile. Relieved I sheath my sword and am about to walk to her when I notice a sign by the corner of my eye. Level up. I grin proudly.

I walk to Asuna who looks exhausted. We end up hunting for about another few hours. After our training we head to the town from before.

The streets were now completely empty. Finding an inn we end up staying the night.

Walking up I stop as I'm about to enter my room.

"Asuna I'm sorry."

"For what."

I can't stand to look at her I press my head on my door. "It's my fault we're stuck here I'm the one who insisted we play this game."

Punching the door I force myself not to scream.

My body is shaking.

Surprised I feel as she places a hand on my shoulder. I turn around. Her eyes are full of sincerity and gently she says "It's neither of our faults this happened I'm just glad that you're here with me."

She turns away and walks to her room but before entering she enters and says "Good night."

I enter my room. It's small just a bed and a window. Removing my sword I lay on bed.

For a while I stare at the ceiling and then slowly raise my hand up into the air and grip it into a fist.

"I swear I'm going to beat this game no matter what."


End file.
